Recently I read an interesting article called Profit From Your Passion: It’s not always possible where the author essentially talks about how you should try to profit from your passion but also realize that it’s not always possible to make a full-time income doing it. It made me start thinking about my own opinions about jobs, careers, income, and passions.
As a twenty-something young adult, many conversations I have with others revolve around jobs and careers. When people hear I am an accountant, many times they ask, do you enjoy your job? I sometimes find it hard to answer this question. I have a lot of interests and passions in life, and I would be hard-pressed to say that
Focus on the type of work you enjoy
I personally think you have to always look at the general characteristics of your work to decide if you are in the right job. Below are a few characteristics of my job that I enjoy:
- Working on a computer – I’m an introvert so I prefer working alone versus working directly with people all day. I think this is one reason why retail and sales jobs are so draining for some people; deep down they are introverts so the constant one-on-one human interaction drains them faster than extroverts. I once talked to a bank teller who was about my age who asked me how I liked being an accountant. I told her if she didn’t mind sitting at a desk on a computer all day, she probably would like it. She said that sort of a setup sounds great. I think she’ll eventually move on from her customer-intensive bank teller job to a desk job where she works more with data and systems, and she’ll be very successful in that environment.
- Ability to Learn – One of my favorite parts of my job is developing my technical skills. I have debated (and continue to debate) whether or not to move into a more technical job, such as programming or data management. It’s fun having a job where learning Excel is part of my job responsibilities. I also enjoy working in the health care industry and would be hard-pressed to find a more exciting industry to move to.
- Room to Move and Advance – Working as an accountant, or working in the finance industry in general, provides various career paths and opportunities for advancement. While many jobs and careers offer this, there are many people who feel they are in “dead end” jobs, and as an ambitious twenty-something it’s important to me at this point in my life. It will probably become less important as the years (and decades) go by, but for now I value it quite a bit.
I was broad in describing some of the things about my job I enjoy, but I think sometimes it’s important to paint a broad brush because those specific ideal jobs may never materialize. There are types of jobs that will match your personality better (or worse). If you focus on these broader characteristics of your job, it may make it easier to go to work day after day even if you don’t absolutely love your work.
I do know a number of individuals who have very specific interests that they have been able to turn into their full-time jobs. One of my more popular posts on Young Adult Money is Turning Hobbies and Interests into Income. I have a few friends who are full-time photographers, graphic designers, and writers. They will be the first to say that it didn’t happen overnight, and in all cases there is always hard work, consistency, and talent. You can always make side income off your passions instead of trying to turn them into your full-time job.
Does your passion align with your job? Do you make a side or secondary income from your passions/interests?
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My passion didn’t immediately line up with my job. As a financial advisor I got to work in the financial field, but I really hated managing money for other people…not because I wasn’t good at it, but because people were often impossible to please (you’d find 30% and they’d want 35%…you’d help them avoid 90% of the market’s losses and they’d only bitch about how you still took on 10%). However, I enjoyed the media piece much, much more. While that didn’t pay the bills at the time, it helped make the parts I didn’t like as much bearable.
@AverageJoeMoney I definitely have considered becoming a financial adviser, and the things you describe are the things that make me (and continue to make me) hesitate pursuing that field.
I think that throughout my life, my passions have lined up with my jobs fairly well…at least for a while. The problem is that my passions keep changing :)
@GregatClubThrifty I have the same problem, and I should probably write a post about that as well. Seems every year (or month) I have something new I’m interested in or even passionate about.
Good post DC! Great point on focusing on the type of work you do enjoy, that has been a learning process for me. I have wanted to be a financial advisor for years and interviewed with quite a few places. At the end of the day most of them are nothing more than sales. Being an introvert myself I know myself too well to know that would be terribly draining. I don’t know that what we are doing know is my passion, but I do know that I really enjoy what I am doing now and have visions of what I want it to become…which is what keeps me going.
@FrugalRules I told Joe below that I considered becoming a financial advisor as well. I’m an introvert as well and wonder how much I would enjoy it, or if I would end up hating the constant human interaction and selling aspects of it.
My side income endeavors align with what I enjoy. However, while my salaried job isn’t horrible, I definitely do not enjoy it. It is way too stressful to deal with lawyers all day long.
@SenseofCents I actually once considered becoming a lawyer…
@DC @ Young Adult Money Haha I don’t think there’s anything wrong with lawyers. Dealing and talking with over 20 lawyers a day though gets frustrating!
@SenseofCents @DC Yeah I can’t imagine talking to that many lawyers every day….
Luckily for me, I have a great job doing things that I love online all day. I get to be creative and think outside of the box. My side passion is running my websites, which I all enjoy as well. It is a lot of work, but well worth it.
@DebtRoundUp I actually envy you sometimes and wonder if I should pursue a similar line of work.
This seems to be a real popular topic floating around as I have read several articles about passions/careers lately. Too me, passions are deeply rooted beliefs or emotions we have about an area of our life. My passions revolve around my family, my faith, my hobbies and my favorite sports teams. A job is something we do that helps us provide for all the passions of our life. I wouldn’t necessarily force myself into or out of a career just because it didn’t line up with one of my passions.
@Luke_1428 It’s all about how we define “passions” I suppose. I noticed you said your faith was a passion. There are thousands upon thousands whose job is pretty much hand-in-hand with their faith (pastors, missionaries, etc.).
@DC @ Young Adult Money You are right about that David. I actual work full time as a teacher at a Christian school. Even in that field though, where it would seem passion aligns with career, I’ve still met teachers over the years who don’t enjoy their job. I find that interesting.
I am working towards making a hobby bring in income. It’s sort of strange, but works out with school and will be an internship. I already passed the first round and have one more obstacle to overcome then it will be the first of my hobby’s I will be making money from. :D
@Financial Black Sheep I look forward to hearing more about it on your blog.
I’ve done a number of IT jobs that I have really enjoyed and still do. A good friend told me many years ago “do work that you truly love and the money will follow”. Sometimes that is easy to achieve and sometimes it isn’t.
@TacklingOurDebt Good to hear! I sometimes wonder if I should get in a more IT-intensive field.
My side hustles all involve some things I enjoy, but since I am on my own I also have to cover the tedious parts. Any job will have some good and bad, the important thing is to find one that maximizes the good things.
@RFIndependence Same here about having to cover the tedious parts….that dang blog design ;) I will get to it in 2013, I’m determined :)
I read that post too. :) I feel blessed because my passion is financial literacy and I am a financial advisor. But I also recognize not every passion can generate a livable income either so I try to not view it as an either/or scenario. You make excellent points to make sure whatever you do is in alignment with your skills so you minimally enjoy your work even it’s not your true passion.
I don’t know if anyone is passionate about doing eye exams, but it allows you to meet and interact with all kinds of people, good or bad. Yesterday I was in a resort town seeing privileged kids who get to spend their free time skiing, and today I was on the reservation and my first patient was drunk as a skunk at 9AM. What other job besides a police officer could you find that much diversity? Keeps me on my toes!
Thanks for including my post in the article DC. Right now my job and passions do not align with each other. However, like you I am an introvert and prefer quite jobs where I don’t have to interact with a slew of customers.
I chose to finish my accounting degree because it looks at my passion for finding ways to save an allocate money to better help a person/business.
My passion “sorta” aligns with my job. I’m a creative person and I do work in a creative field, but sometimes I hate having to be creative on cue, and would rather just button push. Then there are times where all I’m doing is button pushing and wish I could be more creative. Sometimes I think I was meant to do something in healthcare, but I’m not sure exactly what. So a lot of my hobbies follow some passions of mine, and occasionally I can make a little money from it (like my blog), but I don’t know if I’m completely aligned yet…
So true! That is why I made a career change from corporate finance to teaching! You have to love what you are doing especially since you will be doing it for 30+ years!
I think you’re thinking about things the right way on this topic. I love most aspects about my job, even though I wouldn’t have guessed that it would be my passion. I especially agree with the work responsibilities. I’m an introvert, so dealing with clients (which is a small part of my job) is exhausting, I’d much prefer to stay behind my desk all day.
I feel so lucky to have a job that I can be passionate about.. I found an engineering position recently that allows for me to design and create new and better ways to do things.. I really get to put myself into the job, which is an amazing feeling..
From the get-go, you made me think of the marketing work I’m reading right now, called “The Way of the Radical Business” by Tad Hargrave. It’s available for free via his website. It’s a bit off topic from what you’re discussing, but it’s aimed at people who usually work in the arts, holistic practitioners, hippies, etc about why it’s so important to make things you are passionate about a part of the economy/profitable. That doesn’t quite articulate it correctly, but it shows how things like making a good living off of the practice or sale of “good/green/etc” things is good for everyone. The market gets a choice and you in turn get to vote more with your own dollars, for things that you care about.